Everything is Coming Up Battery Storage

Energy innovation has an equivalent of singularity: the day when affordable, scalable, reliable battery storage technology collides with intermittent generation sources like wind and solar to stabilize the availability of clean energy when the sun does not shine and the wind does not blow. The latest International Energy Agency (IEA) report and recent corporate news in battery storage investments suggests this day is not only increasingly possible, but may it be arrive far sooner than the most optimistic observer expects. The IEA found that the world installed an eye-popping 153 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy capacity in 2015, primarily wind and solar. Clean energy sources, for the first time, now exceed the global installed capacity of coal. While how many homes a gigawatt can power depends on the source, 153GW represents enough average solar power for over 25,000,000 U.S. homes. And last week alone, four companies took important steps toward increased deployment of new battery storage technology. Lockheed Martin and Wal-Mart are ramping up battery storage installations at their facilities. LG Chem entered into a battery technology partnership with SunRun. Elon Musk announced Tesla Energy’s next generation residential solar roof and battery storage system. From big companies to clean energy start-ups, there appears to be a growing consensus that there is money to be made in self-generation and battery storage.

Whether improving processes, creating products or developing new ideas, the application of technology can enable real changes in how state government works, both in quality of services delivered to constituents, cost savings and quality of life. States have the opportunity in our national balance of government power, to address policy …